Taiwan tops in cherry consumption

Taiwanese love Bing cherries. In fact, they love them so much that they consume 6,000 tonnes of Washington State-grown cherries annually, becoming the top overseas consumer, says the Northwest Cherry Growers Association.

"Over the past three years, Taiwan has consumed nearly 10 percent of all cherries that our growers produce annually," said Chris Lin (林高賢), director of the group's Taipei office.

As the local representative for the Washington State Fruit Commission, the association works with retail stores and importers to promote the domestic cherry market.

Available late June through early August, now is the best time to munch sweet and juicy cherries, Lin said.

Japan and Taiwan are the top two cherry consumers and last year Taiwan surpassed Japan to become the No. 1 market.

This year, consumption is expected to keep increasing; several retailers have already started a price war. Hypermart operators such as France-based RT-Mart International Co (大潤發) and Holland-based Makro Taiwan Ltd (萬客隆) initiated the competition.

Currently northwest cherries at RT-Mart are priced at about NT$49 per 300g, while at Makro the price is NT$47.4 per 300g.

Competition has cut prices in half. "It's much cheaper than when I bought three or four years ago," said Yao Chia-chi (姚佳琪), 48, a mother of three who checking out the fruit at Welcome Supermarket (頂好超市) yesterday.

"At that time cherries were a luxury fruit priced at about NT$100 per 300g. Every time I see cherries in the market, I can't help grabbing a box, because it's very cheaper than before."

The wholesale price for fresh imported cherries is NT$46 per 300g, leading to very thin margins for RT-Mart and Makro, Lin said.

More than 60 percent of imported cherries end up in traditional markets, while hypermarts unload the rest.

But some traditional markets, hard pressed to compete with the volume of hypermarts, price the fruit at upwards of NT$60 per 300g, Lin said.

Other hypermarts such as US-based Cosco Taiwan and French-based Carrefour Corp (家樂福) have shied away from the battle, pricing their cherries between NT$69 and NT$78 per 300g.

"In terms of size and taste, I believe the cherries we offer are of better quality," said Ahmen Lee (李伯孟), public relations manager at Cosco Taiwan.

Some retailers said cherries are more like a marketing tool to get customers into stores.

"Cherries increase consumer traffic and our sales surge as well," said Chang Tuan-kuei (張端貴), a marketing official at RT-Mart.

After launching a sale on cherries, revenue at RT-Mart jumped nearly 40 percent from the week before, according to Chang.